Israel Mobolaji Odunayo Oluwafemi Temitayo Owolabi Adesanya, who is professionally known as Israel Adesanya and was originally from Lagos, Nigeria, is a 33-year-old Zealand professional mixed martial artist, kickboxer, and former boxer with multiple championships in all three disciplines. He was a former UFC Middleweight Champion for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and a former Glory Middleweight Championship title challenger in kickboxing.
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Adensaya is undoubtedly one of the most envied names in the UFC today with him being #1 in the UFC middleweight rankings as of November 14, 2022, and being #5 in the UFC men’s pound-for-pound rankings as of March 21, 2023.
This MMA fighter is known to be a huge fan of anime. Thus, his nickname ‘The Last Stylebender’, which is a reference to ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender,’ an anime-influenced cartoon series. He actually had one of the anime’s main characters, Toph Beifong, tattooed on his forearm. He had also been open about his plans to start an anime production company once he retires from fighting.
Like the rest of the public figures, Adensaya was not immune to all the rumors. And among the various issues the MMA fighter has been involved with in the past, two were more prominent — that he gave boring fights (with the lack of knockouts) and that he was gay.
Well, is he? Is Israel Adesanya gay?
VOTE: What is Israel Adesanya’s Sexuality?
Dealing with All the Sexuality Rumors
Adesanya is, without a doubt, one of the most popular fighters in MMA today. This puts him in the limelight. Being the focus of public attention means being scrutinized over the most trivial things. And in the case of the MMA fighter, it’s being speculated to be gay due to his social media posts and other suspicious acts. The MMA fighter, for instance, likes to paint his nails. He also made headlines when he dyed his hair hot pink.
His “suspicious” behavior got internet users to leave comments such as:
As a Bi man myself I get the vibe.”
There are gay male fighters but they don’t ever come out because of the stigma.”
He also posts tons of gay pictures on his insta some have been taken down.”
Although he never really directly addressed all the issues about his sexuality, he would play along with the online trolls. Like that one time he tweeted a picture hugging a male friend and captioned it with, “Ha! Gaaaaaayyee!!” He replied to the said tweet with, “The internet tryna find out if I’m gay.”
Ha! Gaaaaaayyee!! 🦭 pic.twitter.com/X8BZoqyFEk
— Israel Adesanya (@stylebender) December 29, 2020
The tweet received mixed reactions from his fans. One follower replied, “Ain’t nobody trying to find out if you’re gay. Everybody already knows you’re gay. But it’s okay. You do you.”
In another tweet, he posted a photo of his white shoes with rainbow designs, and even added a unicorn emoji on the photo, then captioned it with “I’m not gay… but my shoes are.”
I’m not gay…but my shoes are. pic.twitter.com/dxORGWZmwN
— Israel Adesanya (@stylebender) February 15, 2022
But the mixed martial artist does not only create buzz online because of gay assumptions. He was also called out for “disgusting” behavior.
There was an incident where he was seen “licking a girl’s breast sweat” which, obviously, drew hate on social media. The incident happened when he recorded himself watching a tennis match. He was then seen putting his hands on the girl who was sitting beside him before he tasted her breast sweat.
Social media users went crazy over the viral clip. It didn’t save him from all the gay rumors, though. In fact, it only made it worse.
Next he’ll be copying her outfits.”
said one internet troll
One troll, whose Twitter display name was Israel ‘The Last Transgender‘ Adesanya, (which is from the fighter’s nickname, ‘The Last Stylebender’) said:
Trying so hard to elude the fact he’s gay AF.”
It don’t matter what he does it’s all gay somehow.”
said another internet troll
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Israel Adesanya’s Rumored Relationships
Adesanya was rumored to have dated Australian model Shana Evers, who gained popularity when she dated rapper Fortafy, with whom she had a daughter named Egypt.
The dating rumors between Adesanya and Evers started when fans spotted her in the MMA fighter’s Instagram stories. Although they never really confirmed the relationship, Evers posted an intimate photo of the two, in which Adesanya commented, “What did I miss?”
Aside from that interaction, there was really no confirmation about the supposed romance.
Adensaya was also rumored to have dated a ring girl. The girl’s identity was, however, never revealed. The rumored relationship was never confirmed, either.
A video of the MMA fighter relaxing in a bathtub with a woman — who was later identified by the name of Charlotte Powdrell — circulated on social media, too. Adensaya remained tight-lipped about the incident, never confirming nor denying anything.
Yes, the MMA fighter has been truly secretive about his personal affairs. He never publicly dated anyone nor confirmed any dating rumors he was involved with.
Is Israel Adesanya Gay?
The mixed martial artist never directly addressed the rumors about his sexuality. He hadn’t had any publicly open relationships, either. Thus, it is hard to tell if the rumors were true. Although some fans found him acting “suspicious” online, we cannot really base someone’s sexuality on how they behave online. So, whether Israel Adesanya is gay or not remains a question.